Reduced Visibility

I find driving when it's snowing really quite relaxing. 

 

Not when there's snow or ice on the roads, but just when it happens to be snowing.  I find the falling flakes completely mesmerising as they drift to the ground.  I'm not sure why, but I find it quite calming and soothing.

 

Of course, there is the fact that you can't see very well and therefore have to drive at half the speed you usually would.

 

Every time I stopped at traffic lights, I enjoyed pausing to look up and watch the flakes falling. But as soon as we started moving again, I kept my eyes firmly fixed on the tail lights of the car ahead and let them guide me through the darkening streets. 

 

The Bible advises this in a spiritual sense too,

 

       "Look straight ahead,
       and fix your eyes on what lies before you.
       Mark out a straight path for your feet;
       stay on the safe path.

       Don’t get sidetracked;
       keep your feet from following evil."

 

       [Proverbs 4:25-27 NLT]

 

 

Rather than allowing ourselves to be distracted or mesmerised by things on the sidelines, we should keep our focus fixed on what lies before us.

 

And although there will always be distractions, although we won't get to see things clearly, although we won't get to understand and see things the way God does yet, we will.

 

"We don’t yet see things clearly.  We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist.  But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!"

[1 Corinthians 13:12]

 

 

 

Single-Minded Pursuit

I watched the film 'Mr Bean's Holiday' this afternoon.  I've never seen it before, so I had it on in the background whilst I was doing other things.

 

He wins a holiday to Cannes in the south of France, but inevitably struggles to get there in a straightforward manner.

 

At one point in the film, he has mistakenly taken the wrong taxi across Paris and ended up in the furthest place from where he wanted to be: Gare de Lyon station.  He finds a tourist 'You are Here ' map and locates where he currently is in comparison to the station.

 

Once he realises he is as far away as he possibly could be, he sets his compass for the direction of Gare de Lyon and begins walking.

 

And he walks in a completely straight line.

 

In true Bean style, he stops walking when a stationary pedestrian is in his way and he waits for the pedestrian to move.  When he encounters a row of benches, he simply walks over them.

 

He walks along main roads, in the middle of traffic and nearly causes many accidents as cars swerve to avoid hitting him.

 

He is a man on a mission and several scenes later he arrives at Gare de Lyon.

 

He pursues his mission single-mindedly and he doesn't veer off course until he reaches his destination.

 

Yesterday I wrote about God guiding us along the path to everlasting life.  But it's not enough to just have the path mapped out for us.  We need to walk in it.

 

The Psalmist advises a similar, single-minded pursuit to that seen by Bean:

"You're blessed when you stay on course, walking steadily on the road revealed by God.  You're blessed when you follow his directions, doing your best to find him.  That's right - you don't go off on your own; you walk straight along the road he set [...] I’m single-minded in pursuit of you."

 

[Psalm 119:1-3, 9 MSG] 

 

 

How do we stay on course?

"Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in."

 

[Hebrews 12:2 MSG] 

 

This is the kind of pursuit I want to have.  This is the single-mindedness I want. 

 

The path is before me.  I have only to walk in it.